Method and apparatus for providing phonebook using image in a portable terminal

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for providing a phonebook using an image in a portable terminal are provided. The method includes recording contact information in metadata of an image, and performing a linkage function using the image having the contact information recorded therein.

PRIORITY

This application is a continuation application of a prior applicationSer. No. 12/176,857, filed on Jul. 21, 2008, which claimed the benefitunder 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) of a Korean patent application filed on Jul.19, 2007 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office and assigned Serialnumber 10-2007-0072152 and a Korean patent application filed on Jun. 10,2008 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office and assigned Serialnumber 10-2008-0054021, the entire disclosures of each of which ishereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing aphonebook using an image in a portable terminal. More particularly, thepresent invention relates to a method and apparatus for recording andstoring contact information in metadata of an image and providing alinkage function such as a phonebook using the image having the contactinformation recorded therein.

2. Description of the Related Art

Conventional portable terminals provide phonebooks configured to storephone numbers and phone number related information (e.g., names,snapshots, electronic mail (e-mail) address, other phone numbers,addresses, anniversaries, groups, etc.) and implement linkage functionsby the phone numbers through a search. The phonebooks are provided basedon text, allow a user to manage a list of callers' phone numbers (orcontacts) by group, and provide linkage functions such as a call, aShort Message Service (SMS), a Multimedia Message Service (MMS), afacsimile, and e-mail.

In the conventional art, phonebooks can store and manage a phone numberand a variety of phone number related information, for example,information such as a name, a snapshot, an e-mail address, other phonenumbers, an address, an anniversary, and a group as illustrated inFIG. 1. Also, the phonebook can store and manage a minimal amount ofinformation such as the phone number and the name inputted by a user.That is, there may be several and up to a dozen information fields in aphonebook, but the phonebook has a drawback in that memory is easilywasted due to information fields that are included but not frequentlyused as a result of the information being selectively inputted andstored by the user.

Also, the phonebook has an inconvenience in that a user has to manuallyindicate and separate a group of callers each corresponding to phonenumbers one by one in order to manage a list of phone numbers on aper-group basis. Further, the phonebook has a disadvantage in that, whena user attempts an action for a group, it is difficult to intuitivelyidentify who is a member of the group because the phonebook is providedbased on text.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An aspect of the present invention is to address at least theabove-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at leastthe advantages below. Accordingly, one aspect of the present inventionis to provide a method and apparatus for providing a phonebook using animage in a portable terminal.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus for providing a phonebook function by recording contactinformation in metadata of an image in a portable terminal.

A further aspect of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus for recording contact information in an image, using facerecognition and an existing phonebook database in a portable terminal.

Still another aspect of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus for efficiently managing contacts on a per-group basis byrecording contact information in an image in a portable terminal.

Yet another aspect of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus for increasing security using video information that isacquired through face recognition in a portable terminal.

The above aspects are addressed by providing a method and apparatus forproviding a phonebook using an image in a portable terminal.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for providinga phonebook using an image in a portable terminal is provided. Themethod includes recording contact information in metadata of an image,and performing a linkage function using the image having the contactinformation recorded therein.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus forproviding a phonebook using an image in a portable terminal is provided.The apparatus includes a contact image manager for recording contactinformation in metadata of an image, and a controller for controlling aperformance of a linkage function using the image having the contactinformation recorded therein.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings,discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features and advantages of certainexemplary embodiments of the present invention will become more apparentfrom the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a screen configuration for inputtingcontact information into a phonebook in a portable terminal according tothe conventional art;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a structure of an Exchangeable imagefile (Exif) tag in a general Joint Photographic coding Experts Group(JPEG) image;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a construction of a portableterminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of recording contactinformation using metadata of an image in a portable terminal accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 5A to 5C are diagrams illustrating a screen configuration forrecording contact information in an image in a portable terminalaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an image region set for registeringcontact information in a portable terminal according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of performing a linkagefunction using an image having contact information recorded therein in aportable terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a screen configuration for performing alinkage function using an image having contact information recordedtherein in a portable terminal according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of transmitting amessage and transmitting contact information using an image in aportable terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 10A to 10C are diagrams illustrating a screen configuration fortransmitting a message using contact information recorded in an image ina portable terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a screen configuration fortransmitting contact information to other terminals in a portableterminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of performing asecurity function using video information in a portable terminalaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of registering videoinformation in a portable terminal according to an exemplary embodimentof the present invention;

FIGS. 14A and 14B are flow diagrams illustrating a process ofregistering contact information in a portable terminal according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 15A and 15B are diagrams illustrating screens for managing animage folder in a portable terminal according to an exemplary embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a screen for setting a callerIDentification (ID) in a portable terminal according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention; and

FIGS. 17A and 17B are diagrams illustrating screens for editing a faceregion recognized in a portable terminal according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals will be understood torefer to like parts, components and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings isprovided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplaryembodiments of the invention as defined by the claims and theirequivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in thatunderstanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatvarious changes and modifications of the embodiments described hereincan be made without departing from the scope and spirit of theinvention. Also, descriptions of well-known functions and constructionsare omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The following description includes exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention for recording and storing contact information in metadata ofan image and for providing a linkage function such as a phonebook usingthe image having the contact information recorded therein. The linkagefunction represents a function such as a voice communication, a videocommunication, a Short Message Service (SMS), a Multimedia MessageService (MMS), an instant message, a facsimile, electronic mail (e-mail)and the like. In the following description, video information representsinformation including features that are extracted from a face region ofan image recognized through a face recognition algorithm.

An image compressed using Joint Photographic coding Experts Group (JPEG)has metadata. Metadata is additional image-related informationassociated with image information in compliance with the Exchangeableimage file (Exif) policy. That is, the JPEG image may include an Exiftag illustrated in FIG. 2 in order to store metadata. In an Exif ImageFile Directory (IFD) tag for attribute information, a UserComment 201field, a field in which a user may directly record a keyword or acomment, may include a feature of having an unlimited number ofcharacter codes or numbers. That is, the UserComment 201 field mayrepresent start addresses of a Character Code 203 field and a UserComment Column 205 field for recording data, so a user may input anunlimited amount of data.

Thus, contact information may be recorded in metadata of an image usingthe UserComment 201 field in an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention. More particularly, the contact information may be recorded inthe User Comment Column 205 field. A start address of a Character Code203 that describes data of a User Comment Column 205 having the contactinformation recorded therein may be recorded in the UserComment 201field.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a construction of a portableterminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the portable terminal may include a controller 300,a contact image manager 302, a face recognition unit 304, a storage unit306, a contact image DataBase (DB) 308, an input unit 310, a displayunit 312, a communication unit 314, a camera unit 316 or the like.

The controller 300 may control and process the general operations of theportable terminal and according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention, may record contact information in an image and maycontrol and process the performance of a linkage function such as acall, message transmission, and contact transmission using the imagehaving the contact information recorded therein. That is, when an eventfor recording contact information occurs by selecting a specific imagefrom images stored in the storage unit 306 through the input unit 310,the controller 300 may provide the selected image to the contact imagemanager 302. Also, the controller 300 may provide the contactinformation, which is manually inputted through the input unit 310, tothe contact image manager 302.

The controller 300 may control and process the performance of a securityfunction using video information acquired from an image through a facerecognition function. The security function may be used for limiting theOn/Off state of the terminal, privacy protection, use limitation of aspecific function, etc. For example, when a pay channel limitationfunction is set in a Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) function, ifa pay channel is selected by a user, the controller 300 may control thecamera unit 316 to perform a face recognition function, analyze arecognized face region, extract video information, compare the extractedvideo information with video information stored in the storage unit 306,and upon matching the extracted video information with video informationstored in the storage unit 306, controlling the communication module 314to display broadcasting data received from the pay channel on thedisplay unit 312.

The controller 300 may control and process a function of managing imagesstored in the storage unit 306 by a user, a group, or a folder using thevideo information. In other words, the controller 300 may recognize aface region included in an image, classify the image by a user, a group,or a folder including contact information corresponding to therecognized face region, and display the image on the display unit 312.For example, when an image includes three faces, the controller 300 mayidentify a group including contact information corresponding to eachface region of the image and classify the image by group. If there is nocontact information corresponding to the face region, the controller 300may classify the contact information as “unknown.” The controller 300may control the display unit 312 to distinguish and display an imagedisplay region 1501, a filtering region 1503 for classifying an image bya user, a group, or a folder, and a menu selection region 1505 as shownin FIG. 15A. Upon execution of a face recognition function during thedisplay of the image, the controller 300 may recognize a face regionincluded in the image and display the face region as shown in FIG. 15B.

The controller 300 may control and process a function of setting arecognized face region as a caller IDentification (ID) and storing therecognized face region in the storage unit 306. The caller ID representsa screen for dialing a phone number, etc. for the terminal to implementa communication with a caller's terminal or a screen displayed uponreceiving a request (e.g., a call) for executing a communication from acaller's terminal That is, if an event for setting a caller ID occurs,the controller 300 may identify a face region to be set as a caller IDand contact information, crop only a face region selected from acorresponding image, record contact information in the cropped imagethrough the contact image manager 302, and store the cropped image inthe storage unit 306. The controller 300 may store information on aposition and size of a cropped face region and a ratio of the croppedface region to the whole picture size in the storage unit 306 and, whenthe cropped image is displayed on the display unit 312, control anddisplay the cropped image according to the stored position, size, andratio information as shown in FIG. 16.

Upon receiving a specific image from the controller 300, the contactimage manager 302 may record contact information using a UserCommentfield among metadata record fields of the image. Also, the contact imagemanager 302 including the face recognition unit 304 may recognize a faceexisting in the specific image through a face recognition algorithm, maymark a region of the recognized face, and may determine whether there iscaller contact information corresponding to the recognized face in anexisting phonebook database. The face recognition unit 304 may analyze aface region recognized in an image, extract video information, determineif there is the extracted video information in the storage unit 306, anddetermine if there is caller contact information corresponding to therecognized face. The face recognition algorithm may be implemented usingany of a variety of methods, for example, a Principal Component Analysis(PCA) method, a Fisher Discriminant Analysis (FDA) method, anIndependent Component Analysis (ICA) method, and the like. The PCAmethod extracts a region corresponding to the entirety of a face called“Eigen Face” from the entire image. The FDA method extracts a local facefeature through a comparison between a recognized face region and astored face region. The ICA method classifies a face feature from arecognized entire face region and compares the classified face featurewith a feature of a stored face region.

If there is caller contact information, the contact image manager 302may automatically record the caller contact information and face regioninformation corresponding to the caller contact information in a UserComment Column field. If there is no caller contact information, thecontact image manager 302 may receive the caller contact informationdirectly from a user and may record the received contact information andthe face region information corresponding to the caller contactinformation in the User Comment Column field. The contact informationmay include a name, a phone number, an e-mail address, an address, agroup, etc. Among the above-identified contact information, the name andthe phone number may be set as required record items. In the abovedescription, the contact image manager 302 may distinguish face regionsthrough the face recognition algorithm, may recognize a face, and mayautomatically record contact information. Alternatively, the contactimage manager 302 may receive a face region and contact information onthe face region from a user through the input unit 310 and may recordthe received face region and contact information. Alternatively, thecontact image manager 302 may map the image and the contact informationand store the mapping result in the storage unit 306 without recordingthe contact information in metadata of the image.

The storage unit 306 may store a program and a diversity of types ofinformation necessary for a general operation of the portable terminaland may store an image file and contact information that is stored in anexisting phonebook database. Specifically, the storage unit 306 mayinclude the contact image DB 308 according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention, thus storing images having contact informationrecorded therein. The storage unit 306 may store contact information andface recognition information corresponding to the contact informationunder the control of the controller 300. The face recognitioninformation may include video information on a face region correspondingto contact information and in addition, may include information on aposition and size of a face region recognized in the entire image and aratio of the recognized face region by screen size, etc. Also, the facerecognition information may include link information on the contactinformation corresponding to the face region recognized in the image,that is, a position for storing the contact information corresponding tothe video information on the face region.

When a file name is set for an image, the storage unit 306 may includethe file name in image tag information and store the file name.

The input unit 310 may include a plurality of function keys and mayprovide data corresponding to a key pressed by a user to the controller300. More particularly, the input unit 310 inputs contact information tobe added to an image file and provides the contact information to thecontroller 300 according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

The display unit 312 may display state information, numerals, charactersand the like generated during the operation of the portable terminalMore particularly, the display unit 312 may display an image in which aface region is marked, may display a window for inputting contactinformation, and may display contact information mapped to each regionon the image under the control of the controller 300 according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention. The display unit 312 maymark a recognized face region with a frame, a figure, etc.

The communication module 314 may process a signal transmitted/receivedthrough an antenna. The communication module 314 may perform a voicecommunication, a video communication, message sending, contacttransmission and the like using contact information recorded in an imageunder the control of the controller 300. Although not illustrated, thecommunication module 314 may include a digital broadcasting receiver,thereby receiving digital broadcasting data.

The camera unit 316 may take an image under the control of thecontroller 300. The camera unit 316 may include a camera sensor forconverting a light signal into an analog image signal and a signalprocessor for converting the analog image signal converted in the camerasensor into digital data. The camera sensor may be a Charge CoupledDevice (CCD) sensor and the signal processor may be a Digital SignalProcessor (DSP). The camera sensor and the signal processor may berealized integrally or separately.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of recording contactinformation using metadata of an image in a portable terminal accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the terminal may identify a specific image selectedby a user in step 401. The image may be an image previously stored inthe terminal, an image captured by a camera, or an image transferred tothe terminal. The previously stored image may be transferred from anexternal terminal or may be downloaded through the Internet.

Then, the terminal may determine whether an event for creating a contactimage occurs in step 403. The contact image may represent an imagehaving contact information recorded therein. If the event for creatingthe contact image does not occur, the terminal may terminate theprocess. If the event occurs, the terminal may recognize a number offaces existing in the selected image, regions of the faces, personscorresponding to the faces, etc. through a face recognition algorithm instep 405. Here, the terminal may mark and display each region of theface recognized in the image as illustrated in FIG. 5A.

Then, the terminal may determine whether there is contact information ofa person (that is, a caller) that is recognized through the facerecognition algorithm in an existing phonebook database in step 407.Alternatively, the terminal may determine whether there is videoinformation corresponding to the recognized face region in the existingphonebook database, thereby determining whether there is the callercontact information.

If there is the caller contact information in the existing phonebookdatabase, in step 409, the terminal may record the caller contactinformation existing in the existing phonebook database and a callerface region recognized in the selected image, in a User Comment Columnfield among metadata record fields of the image. For example, theterminal records an image region, a name, and a phone number in the UserComment Column field of the image. In cases where the image region isrectangularly marked with two coordinates (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) asillustrated in FIG. 6, the image region may be recorded with “x1, y1,x2, y2.”

In cases where there are a plurality of callers in the image, theterminal may record each caller face region together with caller contactinformation. In cases where there is only one caller in the image, theterminal may record only caller contact information and not a callerface region.

For example, in cases where there are two callers in the image, theterminal may record <image region=“x1, y1, x2, y2” name=“Angelina” phonenumber=“010-000-0000,” image region=“x3, y3, x4, y4” name=“George” phonenumber=“010-000-1234”>. In cases where there is one caller in the image,the terminal may record <name=“Angelina” phone number=“010-000-0000”>.

If there is no caller contact information in the existing phonebookdatabase, in step 415, the terminal may receive caller contactinformation corresponding to each face region directly from the user andmay record the caller contact information and each corresponding faceregion on an image in the User Comment Column field of the image.Alternatively, the terminal may receive the caller contact informationthrough a search by a user. This is described below in detail withreference to FIGS. 14A and 14B.

Then, in step 411, the terminal may display the recognized caller faceregion, that is, a caller image and contact information corresponding tothe caller image as illustrated in FIG. 5B.

Then, the terminal may store the image having the contact informationrecorded therein in the contact image DB 308 in step 413. Here, byclassifying callers included in the image as one group, the user may beintuitively aware of who is a member belonging to the group by usingonly the image when the user attempts an operation involving the group.For example, the user may easily identify who is a member belonging to a“Alumni meeting” group by setting and storing an image in the name ofthe “Alumni meeting” group as illustrated in FIG. 5C.

Then, the terminal may terminate the process.

In the above description referring to FIG. 4, a face region and a faceare recognized in an image through a face recognition algorithm andcontact information is automatically or manually recorded in the image.Alternatively, a face region and contact information corresponding tothe face region may be received directly from a user and recordedwithout executing the face recognition algorithm. Alternatively, when aface region is not properly recognized as the execution result of theface recognition algorithm, for example, when a face region iserroneously recognized in position or size or when a face region is notrecognized despite its existence, a user may directly select a range ofthe face region. That is, a user may edit a size or position of arecognized face region through a menu or function key and mayadditionally select a new face region. For example, when a face regionis erroneously recognized as shown in FIG. 17A, a user may edit theerroneously recognized face region as shown in FIG. 17B.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of performing a linkagefunction using an image having contact information recorded therein in aportable terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 7, if an image having contact information recordedtherein is selected in step 701, the terminal may mark and displaycaller regions each mapped to the contact information in the selectedimage in step 703. That is, the terminal may identify image regions eachcorresponding to the contact information in a User Comment Column fieldamong metadata record fields of the image and may mark the identifiedimage regions in the image. If the image is not selected in step 701,the terminal may repeat step 701.

Then, in step 705, the terminal may determine whether a specific regionis selected from the marked image regions. If the specific region isselected, the terminal may display a linkage function that is executableusing contact information mapped to the specific region in step 707.Here, when the specific region is selected, the terminal may display aname or a phone number among the contact information corresponding tothe specific region. If the specific region is not selected, theterminal may repeat step 705.

For example, when an “A” region is selected from caller regions markedin an image as illustrated in FIG. 8, the terminal may display“Angelina” as a name of a caller corresponding to the “A” region and maydisplay a linkage function such as “Call,” “Message,” “Phonebook,”“Search” and the like using contact information of “Angelina.”

The linkage function may be a voice communication, a videocommunication, an SMS, an MMS, an instant message, a facsimile, ane-mail, a caller ID setting and the like. The video communicationfunction may be displayed only when a caller terminal corresponding tothe contact information supports a video communication.

Then, if a specific linkage function is selected in step 709, theterminal may identify contact information corresponding to the selectedregion in the User Comment Column field of the image and may perform thelinkage function in step 711. Then, the terminal may terminate theprocess. For example, if a region having a name “Angelina” recordedtherein is selected in the image and a linkage function “Call” isselected as illustrated in FIG. 8, the terminal may identify a phonenumber corresponding to the name “Angelina” in the User Comment Columnfield of the image and may perform the linkage function “Call.”

In the above description, the terminal may add a caller ID settingfunction as the linkage function and set the selected region and contactinformation corresponding to the selected region as a caller ID.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of transmitting amessage and transmitting contact information using an image in aportable terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 9, if a message creation event occurs in step 901, theterminal may determine whether an event for adding message recipientsoccurs in step 903.

If the event for adding the recipients occurs, the terminal may displaya list for searching for the recipients in step 905. For example, theterminal may display “Recent Contacts,” “Phonebook,” “Group,” and“Contact image” as illustrated in FIG. 10A so that recipients' contactsmay be selected or searched.

Then, the terminal may determine whether “Contact image” is selectedfrom the displayed list for recipient search in step 907. If the“Contact image” is not selected, the terminal may terminate the process.If the “Contact image” is selected, the terminal may display a list ofcontact images stored in the contact image DB 308 in step 909. Thecontact image may be displayed in a thumbnail form and enlarged to fullsize according to a user's selection as illustrated in FIG. 10B. Thecontact image may be classified and displayed by a user, a group, or afolder including contact information recorded in the image.

Then, if a specific contact image is selected from the displayed list ofcontact images in step 911, the terminal may input, as a recipientcontact, contact information recorded in metadata of the selected imagein step 913. For example, the terminal may input, as a messagerecipient, either a name or a phone number among the contact informationrecorded in the image as illustrated in FIG. 10C. In cases where a userselects one or plural regions in a contact image that includes contactinformation of a plurality of callers, the user may use only contactinformation corresponding to the selected region as recipient contacts.If the specific contact image is not selected in step 911, the terminalmay repeat step 911.

Then, in step 915, the terminal may create a message under a user'scontrol and may transmit the message to the inputted recipient contact.After that, the terminal may terminate the process.

If the event for adding the recipients does not occur in step 903, theterminal may determine whether an event for file attachment occurs instep 917. If the event for the file attachment does not occur, theterminal may return to step 903 and repeat step 903 and its subsequentsteps. If the event for the file attachment occurs, the terminal maydisplay the list of contact images stored in the contact image DB 308 ofthe terminal in step 919.

Then, if a specific contact image is selected from the displayed list ofcontact images in step 921, the terminal may attach the selected contactimage to the message in step 923. Then, in step 915, the terminal maycreate a message under a user's control and then may transmit themessage to the inputted recipient contact. The terminal may easilytransmit one or plural contacts to other terminals by, upontransmission, attaching the contact image to the message asaforementioned. For example, when file attachment is selected and acontact image “Alumni meeting” among the displayed list of contactimages is attached as illustrated in FIG. 11, the terminal may transmitcontact information recorded in metadata of the contact image “Alumnimeeting” to caller terminals. Upon receiving the contact image by amessage, the caller terminals may also register the contact informationrecorded in the contact image to phonebooks.

Then, the terminal may terminate the process.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of performing asecurity function using video information in a portable terminalaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Anexample of a security function implemented when a portable terminal, inwhich a power On/Off is limited, is powered on is described below. Thesecurity function is applicable even at the time of the use limit of aspecific function such as privacy protection, DMB and the like.

Referring to FIG. 12, if the terminal is powered on by a user in step1201, the terminal may determine whether an unlock function based onvideo information is set in step 1203. If an unlock function other thanthe unlock function based on video information is set, the terminal mayperform the set unlock function in step 1215. The set unlock functionmay include an unlock function based on a password input, voicerecognition or the like.

If the unlock function based on video information is set, the terminalmay control a camera unit 316 to drive a camera in step 1205 anddetermine if a face region is recognized in step 1207. That is, theterminal may control the camera unit 316 to capture an image and thendetermine whether a face region is recognized in the captured image.

If a face region is recognized, the terminal may analyze videoinformation corresponding to the recognized face region in step 1209 andcompare the analyzed video information with video information stored ina storage unit 306 and may determine whether there is stored videoinformation matching with the analyzed video information in step 1211.

If the analyzed video information does not match with the stored videoinformation, the terminal may display a message indicating that there isno matched video information on a display unit 312 in step 1217 andreturn to step 1203. The message may be a pop-up message. Here, theterminal may display a selection window for selecting if are-recognition should occur or not on the display unit 312 and maydetermine selection or non-selection as to whether to re-recognize aface region.

If the analyzed video information matches with the stored videoinformation, the terminal may display an idle screen on the display unit312 in step 1213. Here, the terminal may calculate a matching percentagebetween the analyzed video information and the stored video informationand perform the unlock function according to the calculated matchingpercentage. For example, when the calculated matching percentage isequal to or more than 70%, the terminal may perform the unlock function.When the matching percent is equal to or more than 30%, the terminal maydisplay a password input window for inputting a password and the like,receive a password, and perform the unlock function or request for videoinformation re-recognition.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of registering videoinformation in a portable terminal according to an exemplary embodimentof the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 13, if an event for registering video informationoccurs in step 1301, the terminal drives a camera unit 316 in step 1303.Then, the terminal may display a preview image inputted through thecamera unit 316 on a display unit 312 in step 1305 and may determinewhether there is a face region recognized in the displayed preview imagethrough a face recognition algorithm in step 1307. If there is no faceregion in the preview image, the terminal may return to step 1305 anddisplay a preview image inputted through the camera unit 316 on thedisplay unit 312. In the above description, if the video informationregistration event occurs, the terminal may drive the camera unit 316and recognize a face region in an image inputted through the camera unit316. However, even when a camera function is selected to drive thecamera unit 316 and then a face recognition function is selected, theterminal may detect it and recognize a face region in an image inputtedthrough the camera unit 316.

If there is a face region in the preview image, in step 1309, theterminal may control the display unit 312 to mark the face region with aframe or figure and the like so that a user may identify the faceregion. Then, in step 1311, the terminal may identify whether an eventfor image capture occurs through an input unit 310. If an OK or snapshotkey is pressed through the input unit 310, the terminal may determinethat the image capture event occurs and, in step 1313, may analyze videoinformation corresponding to a recognized face region.

Then, in step 1315, the terminal may compare the analyzed videoinformation with video information stored in a storage unit 306 anddetermine whether there is contact information corresponding to theanalyzed video information. That is, when there is stored videoinformation similar or matching with the analyzed video information, theterminal may determine whether there is contact informationcorresponding to the stored video information, thus identifying whetheror not there is the contact information.

If there is contact information corresponding to the analyzed videoinformation, in step 1317, the terminal may display the recognized faceregion and the contact information together with the captured image onthe display unit 312. Then, in step 1319, the terminal may determinewhether a storage event occurs. If an OK or storage key is actuatedthrough the input unit 310, the terminal may store video informationcorresponding to the recognized face region, link information on contactinformation corresponding to the video information, and the capturedimage in the storage unit 306 in step 1321 and then terminate theprocess. If not so, the terminal may return to step 1317.

If there is no contact information corresponding to the analyzed videoinformation, in step 1323, the terminal may register the contactinformation. This is described below in detail with reference to FIGS.14A and 14B.

Then, the terminal may terminate the process.

FIGS. 14A and 14B are flow diagrams illustrating a process ofregistering contact information in a portable terminal according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 14A and 14B, in step 1401, the terminal may include,in an image, a message indicating that there is no contact informationcorresponding to analyzed video information and a recognized face regionand display the message and recognized face region on a display unit312. Then, in step 1403, the terminal may determine whether contactinformation registration is selected through an input unit 310. Here,the terminal may mark contact information as “unknown.”

If the contact information registration is selected, in step 1405, theterminal may determine whether a contact information registration methodis either a search registration method or a direct registration method.That is, the terminal may display a selection window for selectingeither the search registration method or the direct registration methodand may determine whether a user selects either the search registrationmethod or the direct registration method.

If the search registration method is selected through the input unit310, the terminal may display a contact information search window instep 1407 and may determine whether a keyword is input in a searchwindow in step 1409. If the keyword is input, the terminal may searchcontact information stored in a storage unit 306 for contact informationcorresponding to the keyword in step 1411 and may determine whetherthere is contact information corresponding to the keyword in step 1413.A method for searching contact information through a keyword may be aname search method, a group search method and the like.

If there is no contact information corresponding to the keyword, theterminal may display that there is no contact information correspondingto the keyword in step 1421 and return to step 1403. Here, the terminalmay display a selection window for re-registering contact informationand select whether to re-register contact information through the inputunit 310.

If there is contact information corresponding to the keyword, theterminal may link the corresponding contact information and a faceregion to an image and mark the corresponding contact information andthe face region in step 1415 and may determine whether an instruction tostore is selected through the input unit 310 in step 1417.

If the direct registration method is selected through the input unit 310in step 1405, the terminal may display a contact information inputwindow on the display unit 312 in step 1423. Then, in step 1425, theterminal may determine whether a contact information input is completed.Here, if an OK or enter key and the like is input by a user, theterminal may determine that the contact information input is complete.

If the contact information input is complete in step 1425, the terminalmay establish a link between video information corresponding to therecognized face region and the input contact information and thendisplay the input contact information and the recognized face regiontogether with the image on the display unit 312 in step 1427. Then, theterminal may determine whether the instruction to store is selectedthrough the input unit 310 in step 1417. If the contact informationinput is not complete in step 1425, the terminal may return to step1423.

If the storage is selected, in step 1419, the terminal may control astorage unit 306 to include video information, contact informationcorresponding to a recognized face region, and link information in facerecognition data and store the video information, the contactinformation, and the link information, include an image in general dataand store the image, and then terminate the process. Here, the terminalmay store the recognized face region, the video information, and thecontact information in a UserComment field. If in step 1417, noinstruction to store is selected the terminal may return to step 1403.

The search registration method and the direct registration method havebeen described as the contact information registration method in theabove exemplary embodiment of the present invention. However, a methodfor registering contact information using a file name for storing animage may be used. That is, if a user inputs a file name for storing animage and then selects face recognition, the terminal may detect it,recognize a face region included in an image, analyze video informationcorresponding to a recognized face region, and compare the file namewith contact information stored on a per-group basis or on a per-userbasis in the storage unit 306. If contact information matches with thefile name, the terminal may establish a link between the identifiedcontact information and the analyzed video information and may control adisplay unit 312 to include the recognized face region and theidentified contact information in the image and may display therecognized face region and the identified contact information.

In the aforementioned exemplary embodiment of the present invention, theterminal may also set the image having the contact information recordedtherein as an idle screen. That is, the terminal may set the image onwhich the contact information and the face region are marked as an idlescreen and may set only an image excepting the contact information andthe face region as an idle screen. Thus, as shown in FIG. 7, theterminal may perform a variety of linkage functions through a userselection on the idle screen. For the above functions, a user may selectrespective face regions of callers having frequent contacts from aplurality of images stored in the terminal, edit the selected faceregions as one image, and set the edited image as an idle screen. If so,the terminal may recognize face regions in an image of a set idle screenthrough a face recognition algorithm and store contact informationcorresponding to the respective recognized face regions in the idlescreen image.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention have an effect of beingable to transmit contact information related to an image with onlydelivery of the image to a caller and may help a user to intuitivelyidentify a group member through the image, by recording and storing thecontact information in metadata of the image and providing a linkagefunction such as a phonebook using the image having the contactinformation recorded therein. Also, exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention have an effect of being able to automatically record contactinformation with no need for a user to input the contact information oneby one and easily may implement a linkage function such as “Call” and“Message” with only a selection of an image, by distinguishing membersin the image through a face recognition algorithm and searching anexisting phonebook database for corresponding contact information.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference tocertain exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: recognizing a face on animage; identifying a region of the face in the image; determiningcontact information corresponding to the face, the contact informationincluding a phone number; associating coordinates of the region with thecontact information; and storing the associated coordinates of theregion and the phone number in metadata of the image.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising identifying the region based at least inpart on the coordinates, via a display.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein the identifying comprises providing at least one of a graphicuser interface (GUI) or text information via the display.
 4. The methodof claim 1, wherein the determining of the contact information comprisesrecognizing the face corresponding to the region.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein the determining of the contact information comprisesdetermining whether the contact information corresponding to the face isstored in a contact database.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein thedetermining of the contact information comprises receiving other contactinformation via an input based at least in part on a determination thatthe contact information corresponding to the face is not stored in thecontact database.
 7. A method comprising: displaying an image;identifying one or more regions of one or more faces included in theimage, based at least in part on coordinates obtained from metadata ofthe image; determining, via an input, a region from among the one ormore regions, the region corresponding to a face of the one or morefaces; obtaining contact information associated with coordinates of theregion from the metadata of the image, the contact information includinga phone number; and performing at least one function based at least inpart on the contact information.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein theidentifying of the one or more regions comprises displaying at least oneof a graphic user interface (GUI) or text information.
 9. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the input comprises a user input.
 10. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the performing of the at least one function comprisesdisplaying a list in relation with functions that are executable usingthe contact information.
 11. The method of claim 7, wherein the at leastone function comprises at least one of a short message service (SMS)function, a call function, a multimedia message service (MMS) function,a facsimile function, or an electronic mail (e-mail) function.
 12. Anapparatus comprising: a display configured to present an image; and atleast one processor operatively coupled with the display, the processorconfigured to: recognize a face on the image; identify a region of theface in the image; determine contact information corresponding to theface, the contact information including a phone number; associatecoordinates of the region with the contact information; and store theassociated coordinates of the region and the phone number in metadata ofthe image.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to identify the region based at least inpart on the coordinates, via the display.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13,wherein the at least one processor is further configured to provide atleast one of a graphic user interface (GUI) or text information via thedisplay.
 15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to recognize the face corresponding tothe region.
 16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to determine whether the contactinformation corresponding to the face is stored in a contact database.17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor isfurther configured to receive other contact information, via an input oran electronics device external to the apparatus, based at least in parton determination that the contact information corresponding to the faceis not stored in the contact database.
 18. The apparatus of claim 12,wherein the contact information further comprises at least one of aname, an electronic mail (e-mail) address, a photo, an address, ananniversary date, or a group.
 19. An apparatus comprising: a displayconfigured to present an image; and at least one processor operativelycoupled with the display, the processor configured to: identify one ormore regions of one or more faces included in the image, based at leastin part on coordinates obtained from metadata of the image; determine,via an input, a region from among the one or more regions, the regioncorresponding to a face of the one or more faces; obtain contactinformation associated with coordinates of the region, from the metadataof the image, the contact information including a phone number; andperform at least one function based at least in part on the contactinformation.
 20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to display at least one of a graphicuser interface (GUI) or text information.
 21. The apparatus of claim 19,wherein the input comprises a user input.
 22. The apparatus of claim 19,wherein the at least one processor is further configured to display alist in relation with functions that are executable using the obtainedcontact information.
 23. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at leastone processor is further configured to obtain a selection from a list inrelation with functions that are executable using the contactinformation.
 24. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at least onefunction comprises at least one of a short message service (SMS)function, a call function, a multimedia message service (MMS) function,a facsimile function, or an electronic mail (e-mail) function.
 25. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the contact information further comprises atleast one of a name, an electronic mail (e-mail) address, a photo, anaddress, an anniversary date, or a group.